Bass Class
"Bass Class" is the eleventh episode of Season 1 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on January 20, 2011. The episode was written and directed by Martin Kratt. On April 5, 2011, "Bass Class" was first released on DVD as part of Wild Kratts: Creature Adventures. In this episode, Chris and Martin Kratt meet a boy named Gavin while searching for bass in a lake. Gavin tells them that he is practicing fishing for bass. Zach Varmitech finds out, and he arrives at the docks and initiates a fishing competition. The winner is the one whose bass they caught weigh the most. However, Zach, desperate to win the competition, refuses to play by the rules. Plot The episode begins with a live action segment. The Kratt brothers and several kids dive into a lake and observe the fish inhabiting it. Afterwards, they ask their "What if?" question and the show transitions into the cartoon segment. The Kratt brothers are searching for one of two types of bass in a lake to activate their Bass Creature Power Suits. Chris looks for smallmouth bass, while Martin looks for largemouth bass. Martin is the first one to find a bass, which he finds in a thicket of aquatic vegetation. Martin names her Gulpa and activates his Creature Power Suit after touching her. However, the Creature Power Suit gives Martin the mind of a bass, and after seeing a fish lure, he gets hooked. This lure belongs to a kid named Gavin. Chris comes up the docks and tells him to keep the line steady, and Martin is lured onto the docks. Gavin tells the Kratt brothers he is practicing fishing for bass in the lake, and he shows them his third-place trophy he won when he caught a large bass. Zach Varmitech is taking a day off on his yacht, when Gavin's trophy's shines a light on his face. Annoyed, he propels his yacht to the docks and tries grabbing Gavin's trophy out of his hands. After doing so, he initiates a fishing contest. Whoever catches bass that weigh the most wins a large first-place trophy and Gavin's trophy. Gavin agrees to enter the contest. Chris then lists several rules to keep the contest fair. The contest begins. Zach heads out in his yacht with Chris following him, while Gavin, Martin, and a Zachbot ride in a boat provided by Aviva, who acts as its driver. Martin activates his Bass Creature Power Suit and holographically projects an arrow pointing to a school of smallmouth bass he encountered. The boat moves towards the arrow. Gavin attaches a crayfish lure to his fishing line, and after Aviva sprays crayfish scent on it, he casts his line and catches a smallmouth bass. Zach, on the other hand, is having very little luck, and resorts to disadvantaging his opponent. He orders the Zachbot in Gavin's boat to scare away the school of smallmouth bass under Gavin, which it does after Gavin catches his second bass. Chris notices and gives Zach a warning. Zach refuses to comply and instead heads to the bass spawning grounds. Chris tells Martin, and he reactivates Bass Powers. Zach is able to catch a male largemouth bass guarding eggs at the spawning grounds. Martin arrives and defends the nest from sunfish. Chris sneaks onto Zach's boat and propels the boat away from the spawning grounds, simultaneously making Zach drop the largemouth bass, which returns to guarding the nest. The Kratt brothers then return to help Gavin. Martin, remembering Gulpa, leads them to the vegetation. Gavin casts his line; Gulpa bites and Gavin catches her. After sundown, the two teams gather at the docks for the weigh-in. Zach declares victory when the mass of his bass surpass Gavin's by one unit. Despite the loss, Chris and Martin advise Gavin that he still did great and that playing by the rules and trying hard makes him the real winner everytime. However, the Wild Kratts find several flaws in some of the bass in Zach's weigh-in tank and after the fish fought each other, realize that they are Zachbots, and they pronounce Gavin as the winner. Zach goes away in his boat, exclaiming that he dislikes fishing and blames the Wild Kratts for making him lose by exposing the robotic bass, and after the worm gets in his shirt again, swore to get back at the "Wild Ratts". At the end, the Wild Kratts release the fish. The show transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers and some kids fish for bass. While doing so, Martin pranks Chris by hooking his lure to a stick and pulling him into the water. They laugh and conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!" Characters Humans *Chris Kratt *Martin Kratt *Aviva *Koki *Jimmy Z *Zach Varmitech *Gavin Animals Animation Note: Featured animals are in bold. *[[Largemouth Bass|'Largemouth bass']]: Gulpa *[[Smallmouth Bass|'Smallmouth Bass']] *Crayfish *Redbreast Sunfish (called Sunfish) *Earthworm (called Worm) Key Facts * Largemouth bass are big, have large jaws, are solitary hunters, and are found in weedy areas. * Smallmouth bass are small, have small jaws, hunt in groups, are found in rocky areas, and jump high. Trivia * The ecological topic shown in the cartoon segment is bass fishing. ** This episode reveals that Aviva learns how to fishing when she was a kid. ** Rules for the bass fishing contest *** Rule #1: Only bass count. Largemouth bass or smallmouth bass can be caught. *** Rule #2: No live bait, only lures. *** Rule #3: Catch and release. All the fish are kept alive and healthy in aquariums until weighing, then are let go. *** Rule #4: Contest over at sundown. Whoever has 3 fish that weigh the most wins. *** Rule #5: (super important) No fishing in the spawning grounds. *** Rule #6: (made up by Zach but somehow counted as a rule) the Zachbots' real job is to help Zach win. *** Rule #7: (possible last-minute rule by Chris) No throwing anyone overboard. *** Rule #1a: (made up by Zach) Zach reveals he has a better idea to win; to have Zachbots capture a few Largemouth Bass so he can turn them into Zachbots inside the bass' body. ** Chris and Martin didn't wear their boots the entire episode. References Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes written by Martin Kratt Category:Episodes directed by Martin Kratt Category:Episodes on home video Category:Episodes with Villains